War of the Holidays
by Sedentary Wordsmith
Summary: A collection of holidays at Titans Tower. Now featuring Christmas, St. Patty's Day, Valentine's Day, Labor Day. Chapter 4: It's a relaxing day at the beach for the Titans, but the day holds more in store for Raven than sand in some uncomfortable places.
1. Christmas

I've had this idea stuck in my head for several months, but have just now been able to bring it together and put it into words. Then I decided, while I'm at it, why not do more than one holiday at Titans Tower? So enjoy, and expect more holidays soon.

Summary: Christmas. Raven knows a secret hatred of Robin's, but surely she wouldn't use it to her advantage, would she? She just might. Humor.

War of the Holidays

Chapter 1

Christmas

Raven paused as she entered the main room in Titans Tower to take in the scene presented to her. The holidays were fast approaching, and with them came a drastic change inside the tower. Everything was much…shinier. And more colorful.

Beast Boy was decorating the huge Christmas tree against the window and trying to covertly hang ornaments on Cyborg's metal parts without his noticing. Cyborg, meanwhile, was trying to simultaneously hang Christmas lights and keep ornaments off of himself, which occasionally meant dropping his string of lights and attacking Beast Boy. Robin sat on the couch, furiously untangling a huge ball of lights, which he then fed to Cyborg. Starfire excitedly flew around the room, hanging tinsel from the ceiling and other random places. She had Christmas carols playing loudly, but no one stopped her. It was better than what she did her first Christmas on Earth.

Beast Boy and Starfire wore Santa Clause hats, and Cyborg had a long strand of tinsel draped across his neck, no doubt placed there by their resident alien. Even Robin was dressed festively in red and green…and some yellow and black.

Raven felt a smile overcome her. She didn't celebrate the holidays and usually looked upon them with indifference. But this year was going to be different. She would make sure of it.

She levitated over to the kitchen area and opted to make herself some hot chocolate rather than tea. Starfire's Christmas CD came to the end and stopped. Before she could restart it, Raven started humming her own carol. Her smile broadened as she hummed, and she had to hide it behind her cup.

Keeping one eye on Robin, she began singing, just loud enough to be heard. This caught his attention immediately, and before the fifth word was out of her mouth, Robin had dropped his tangled mass of Christmas lights, vaulted over the couch, dashed across the room, and had slapped a hand over her mouth.

This sudden action caught the other three Titans off guard, and all was suddenly silent, everyone standing frozen where they were. Raven looked down at the gloved hand covering her mouth, then raised an eyebrow at Robin. They both knew perfectly well that she could blast him all the way into town without raising a finger if she wanted to, but still neither moved.

Finally, Starfire broke the silence with a quiet but honest question. "Friend Raven does not sing that horribly, does she, Robin?"

Robin forced a smile and dropped his hand. "No…of course not." For a reason the other three Titans couldn't figure out, Raven was smirking. Robin cleared his throat nervously. "Well, this is nice, isn't it? The five of us friends, all decorating our home together for the holidays? …Now where was I?" He jumped back over the couch and busily set to disentangling lights again.

The rest returned to their activities likewise, leaving three confused, one slightly rattled, and one exalting in her success and planning her next move.

…………

Raven peeked around the corner of the hallway, waiting for a certain someone. Finally she saw him coming in her direction, and she stepped out around the corner, casually walking toward him. When she was within hearing distance, she innocently began humming the same song she had the previous morning. His eyes narrowed behind his mask and he stopped in front of her.

"Yes, Robin?" she asked with a tiny smile she couldn't quite conceal. "Is there something—"

"I know what you're doing, Raven, and I want it to stop," he told her.

"Humming?" she asked in apparent confusion.

"You know what I mean."

"I'm afraid I don't."

"The song!"

"What song?" She nearly smiled again, but managed to smother it.

"You know what song," he replied with a frown. "And you know that I hate it."

"But how can you hate it? It's a Christmas classic!"

Robin was clearly getting frustrated with her. "Don't play games with me, Raven!"

"But you like games, Robin. Remember?" Robin couldn't help but feel that the last word was more a threat than a reminder, but before he could say anything in reply, Raven sank through the floor in front of him with a parting smile.

…………

That evening, the five Titans sat in the main room together. Beast Boy sat under the tree, shaking his presents—and all the rest of them—and listening to them with a canine ear. Raven sat at the table with Starfire, trying to teach her how to knit. More than once, she felt that Starfire should be grateful for her tough Tamaranian skin, as she repeatedly jabbed herself with the needles. Robin and Cyborg were playing a racing game on the big screen, but Robin was clearly losing. Every minute or so, he would glance nervously back at the girls, causing Raven to smile back when he ran into a wall.

All was quiet except for the soft sounds of Raven's instructions, the game, and Beat Boy's rattling, so Raven again began humming. Robin looked up sharply at her and crashed into a wall. Raven smiled and hummed louder.

Starfire also smiled. "I cannot quite decide, but I think that may be my favorite carol of the Christmas."

"Oh really?" Raven queried with a wider smile.

"Yes. It is simply…fun to sing."

"You don't say."

Robin fearfully noted the evil gleam in Raven's eyes.

"You know, Star, I know a different version of that song. I could teach it to you sometime if you'd like," Raven offered casually.

Robin's eyes widened and he dropped his controller.

"Delightful!" Starfire exclaimed. "I would like that very much!"

"Great." Raven stood, setting aside her knitting. "I'm going to bed now. Goodnight, everyone." She cast a special smile at Robin, who still watched her with wide eyes, before leaving.

She smiled to herself as she walked toward her room. Tomorrow she would teach the song to Starfire, who would not understand the significance of it and undoubtedly sing it night and day. She figured that might be enough revenge.

Raven's smile melted as she remembered discovering that all her cloaks had been dyed pink while she was sleeping. Upon confronting Robin about it, he confessed that he had known in advance what Beast Boy and Cyborg were going to do, but had let them anyway. After all, he had said, they didn't mean anything by it. It was just a harmless prank—a game to them. Raven didn't think it was a very fun game when she had to go out in public and fight crime in pink, or when she saw the pictures in the paper the next day.

But now one revenge was served, and only two remained.

The smile returned to Raven's face as she began humming, then singing to herself.

"Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg…"

End of chapter. I plan on doing more, but they will not be related to this one, so you will have to imagine for yourself what her revenge on BB and Cyborg was. I imagine it would be worse than Robin's, though.

Expect either Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day next. Please review! Oh, and if you have any other reasonable holidays you would like to see me write about, please tell me in a review!


	2. St Patrick's Day

Needless to say, I'm very disappointed in the lack of response the first chapter received. Out of 39 hits, I got one review. So Agent of the Divine One, this chapter's for you. Come on, people, if you read it to the end, at least leave a two-word review telling me if you even liked it or not. This is my first published piece in Teen Titans, and I need to know what you think of it. I just came from a genre where I got 108 reviews for four chapters. So leave a review and tell me what you think!

St. Patrick's Day: It's the Titans' first St. Patrick's Day together, and Raven isn't wearing green. But more importantly, does Beast Boy's green skin really count as wearing green?

Chapter 2

St. Patrick's Day

Raven yawned as she exited her room, half-asleep and completely uncaring of what the date was. The first think she noticed upon entering the main room was that Cyborg was the only one else up yet. The second thing she noticed was that he was wearing a bright green trucker's hat.

Raven raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She was not one to lecture other people on how to dress.

She made herself a cup of hot tea and sat next to Cyborg at the bar. Neither spoke for a minute, just enjoying the quiet of the morning. Then suddenly that peace was shattered by a sudden sharp pain on Raven's arm. She nearly yelped at the unpleasant surprise, turning to Cyborg, from which it had undoubtedly come.

"What was that for?" she demanded, still too surprised to be properly angry.

"Happy St. Patrick's Day!" Cyborg exclaimed, a broad smile on his face.

Raven's entire countenance darkened in one second flat. _Happy_? Oh no, not today. She raised her hand with one thought in mind: revenge.

Cyborg leaned away, raising his hands defensively. "Nuh!" He smiled proudly and pointed to his hat. "Immune."

Raven glared darkly. "That would be assuming I'm playing by the rules."

Cyborg's eyes widened and he cowered down, covering his head with his hands. "I knew this was a bad idea!"

The only thing that saved him from a painful revenge was the sudden entrance of Robin and Starfire. The alien was holding her forearm and looked about ready to cry, while Robin was frantically apologizing and trying to explain St. Patrick's Day.

"It's just something we do on Earth for St. Patrick's Day…we pinch whoever isn't wearing green."

"But you have never done so before," Starfire pointed out in hurt confusion.

"Yeah…it's just once a year. I'm really sorry, Star. I shouldn't have done that," Robin apologized again.

Starfire was quiet a moment, apparently processing it all, before she reached out and suddenly pinched Robin's arm. "You are forgiven." She smiled and walked away.

Robin gingerly cradled his wounded arm. "Actually…I'm wearing green, but that's okay! I guess I deserved that one."

He sat down next to Raven with a sigh, looking her and Cyborg over. He saw Cyborg's hat but smirked when he saw Raven's usual attire. It quickly disappeared off his face, however, when Raven said without even looking at him, "I really don't think you should be pinching anyone else today." He turned away and went back to sulking.

Beast Boy entered just then, looking particularly triumphant. Cyborg noticed at once that he was wearing his usually purple and black jumpsuit, and immediately pounced. Beast Boy held up a hand with a smug smirk, halting his metal friend before he could touch him. "No way, dude. _Totally_ immune."

"No way, dude! You're not wearing any green!" Cyborg pointed out, readying his pinching fingers.

"Dude, I AM green!" Beast Boy retaliated, gesturing broadly at himself.

"Dude, that doesn't count! You have to be _wearing_ green!"

"I'm wearing my skin, aren't I?"

"That SO doesn't count!"

"It SO does!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Hey, Raven, does green skin count as wearing green?"

Raven rolled her eyes as she got up. "Don't involve me in this ridiculous holiday. And don't even think about it," she added upon seeing the look that Beast Boy gave her when he realized that she was wearing only blue and black.

She walked past them, pausing at the door. "Hey, Starfire." The alien looked up expectantly at her. Cyborg's green hat was suddenly encased in black and floated into Raven's open hands. "Look, Cyborg isn't wearing any green."

Cyborg's eyes widened as a delighted look appeared on Starfire's face, and she advanced, along with Robin and Beast Boy. "Raven! I'm sorry! Anything but this! Raven! No fair! Raaveeenn!!"

…………

The five flew rapidly over the city later that afternoon, on call for an emergency dealing with Plasmus. The streets below were full of green, nobody apparently desiring a painful pinch from a complete stranger.

Cyborg had a sullen look on his face as he was suspended by Beast Boy's pterodactyl claws, cradling his injured arm. He was pretty sure Starfire's pinch would leave scar tissue. He had reclaimed his green trucker hat, but felt that Beast Boy was holding him tighter than necessary anyway.

They found Plasmus soon enough and landed in front of him, readying themselves in fighting stances.

A particularly daring young man darted out from the crowd and towards the nearest Titan—Raven.

"Pinch me, and it'll be the last thing that hand ever touches," she threatened without so much as looking at him. Cowed, he shrunk back into the crowd.

The following battle with Plasmus was short-lived, but left them all covered in sticky, green monster-mucus.

"Am I wearing enough green for you now?" Beast Boy challenged Cyborg. "Ugh, I need a shower SO bad."

Cyborg's eyes narrowed as a plan formed in his mind, and he hid his dark smirk.

………… 

Half an hour later, there was a startled shriek from a bathroom in Titans Tower. Four of the Titans ran toward the source of the sound, three worried and surprised, one delighted. Robin nearly broke down the door, but it slammed open before he had the chance to. There stood a dripping wet Beast Boy, clad only with a towel around the waist. He looked both surprised and angry. He was very…brown.

"Look at me!" he shouted to all of them.

Robin and Starfire relaxed, relieved that it was not a real emergency. Raven looked angry for being made to believe it was. Cyborg was practically bursting his contained laughter.

"Well, BB, it looks like you're not wearing so much green anymore," he managed to say.

"You!" Beast Boy turned angry green eyes onto Cyborg. "You put brown dye in my shampoo!"

"Yep," he replied, not bothering to hide his laughter.

"How long is this going to last?" Beast Boy demanded.

"At least for the rest of the day!" Cyborg laughed, then tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Though the bottle did say something about a month, and I did put an awful lot in."

"A MONTH!"

Raven sighed in exasperation, turning to go as Beast Boy dove for Cyborg.

"Hey! No pinching!"

"It's legal! You're not wearing any green!"

She walked down the hall to her room, Robin by her side. When she got to her door, she halted him with a word. "Oh, by the way, Robin," she began, stepping into her room. "I've been wearing green all day. I just can't tell you where because you're a boy." She swiftly shut the door before she could see his expression.

The End.

Hehehe…That very last bit was actually inspired by a true story.

Hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review. Expect either Labor Day or Mothers' Day next.


	3. Valentine's Day

This one is for Markus De Koum Jr. I wrote it last night just because you requested it. I hope it lives up to your expectations. Thanks for reviewing, everyone! Please do so again.

Valentine's Day: Raven hates the pointlessness of February 14. Maybe someone can change her mind. Some BBRae, RobStar.

Wow, that was the lamest summary yet. Anyway, onward!

Takes places after Trouble in Tokyo. Also based on the fact that Raven is an empath, which is never mentioned in the cartoon…

War of the Holidays

Valentine's Day

If Raven had to pick one word to describe February 14, she might have chosen "nauseating."

She hated how everyone's emotions ran even higher than normal. She could actually feel it radiating off of them. She thought it was pointless that everyone chose just this one day out of the year to celebrate their love for each other and buy costly chocolate and roses. So a man had written a few letters to his beloved from prison before he was beheaded. It was nothing to celebrate. Even the colors—the constant flow of pinks and reds mixed with white—sickened her. There was nothing romantic about it.

Raven tried to avoid the common room as much as possible. Robin had consented to letting Starfire completely decorate it with pink hearts for the holiday. Starfire had also wanted to paint the entire Tower outside pink, but thankfully Robin had stood firm against that. Raven didn't know what she would do if that had happened—probably move in with the Titans East.

Raven edged into the common room, as if she almost expected to be attacked by flying pink hearts. But she had to have a cup of tea. She kept her eyes down as she levitated into the kitchen and set about making her tea. Starfire's soft giggling interrupted her.

She looked up to see Robin and Starfire at the table with red and pink paper, some markers, and several bottles of glue and glitter spread between them. They were making Valentines and laughing quietly to themselves. No doubt Starfire had begged Robin to join her, but he seemed to be enjoying himself well enough now.

Raven urged her tea to heat faster. She didn't begrudge them their relationship; on the contrary, she was glad for them that had finally stopped hiding their emotions and gotten together. She just wished that _she_ didn't have to feel it. Today was one of those days when Raven felt that all the emotions surrounding her might just smother her.

Raven got her tea and was just leaving when the doors swooshed open in front of her, almost causing her to spill her tea on herself. Cyborg entered, carrying a large wooden box and wearing a broad smile. Beast Boy ran around him, demanding him to open it already.

"Fan mail!" Cyborg called, setting the box down. It was postmarked from the city. Every month or so, depending on how much they received, the city would forward all of the Titans' fan mail to them. There was so much coming in, the city had to appoint an official to be in charge of it. "This month should be interesting."

Sure enough, when dumped out on the table, the contents were revealed to be mostly heart-shaped or pink. Most of them were addressed to Starfire specifically, though Robin got quite a fair share, mostly perfume-scented.

Raven turned to go, more concerned with drinking her tea in peace, as her teammates dug through the letters.

"Hey, Raven, aren't you going to read yours?" Cyborg asked. She sighed but stayed. Beast Boy was reading his stack with an ever-growing grin, and Robin and Starfire were reading each other's, both looking rather displeased. Cyborg was adding to his own pile as he sorted. He glanced up and smiled a bit at her. There were only a few left unsorted. "I'm sure there's some in here…Uh…right…here!" He produced one with her name on it and handed it to her.

She read it aloud. "'Dearest Raven. Your exotic beauty enchants me.'" Here she raised an eyebrow but kept reading. "'The light of your eyes is the stars of my dreams. Your smooth skin is a balm to my lovesick soul' ? 'Your long hair is as a red river flowing.' Red? 'I am amazed that Tamaran would give up its fairest jewel…'" She stopped reading and handed it to Starfire. "Looks like your biggest fan can't even get your name straight." She turned once again to go.

"Don't you want to read the rest of them?" Cyborg offered, holding a few in his hands. A couple of them were black. "I'm sure they're all to you."

"No. Those are utterly pointless. Just some meaningless words written by brainless airheads without real lives. I'm not interested." She left.

Beast Boy looked down at his stack of letters, then over at the closed door.

…………

That evening, Raven returned to the common room in hopes of finding something semi-edible in the fridge. She noticed that Beast Boy was the only one around and he was being unusually quiet, hunched over something on the table.

Raven found an apple that looked like it hadn't started growing penicillin yet, and went to sit at the table. Beast Boy swiped whatever he was working on off the table and hid it when he saw her. Then he merely sat there smiling at her.

"Where are the others?" Raven asked just to break the silence.

"Robin and Star left on a date a couple hours ago," he answered. "Cy went to go meet one of the girls from a letter he said sounded nice. So we have the tower to ourselves tonight."

Raven tried not to choke on her apple. For some reason, she pictured herself stranded on a desert island alone with Beast Boy, unable to fly away. She wondered how long it would take her to kill him.

"Soooo…" Beast Boy began. There was a pause. "Doing anything this Friday?"

She raised her eyebrows at the question. "Should I be?" she asked cautiously.

Beast Boy shrugged. "Just wondering." He looked about ready to say something else, but stopped himself. A minute later, he suddenly said, "Valentine's Day isn't all that bad, you know."

Raven stared at him. He rambled on.

"I mean, yeah, so much pink kinda kills a man like me, but there's nothing really wrong with just one day set apart out of the year devoted to just telling each other 'I love you.'"

Raven kept silent. She didn't really want to drag him down with her opinions. Why couldn't people just let each other know all year long? Were they really so caught up with themselves that they had to have a set day to remind themselves of the people they cared about?

"I think it's great how people can have an entire day to just express how they feel," Beast Boy continued, quiet contradictory to Raven's own thoughts. "It's not so bad." He stood, keeping one hand covertly behind his back. Raven noticed, but still didn't speak. If he was trying to hide whatever it was, then he obviously didn't want her to see.

"Well…see ya around," he finished suddenly, leaving before she had a chance to respond.

She shook her head at his odd behavior, finished her apple, and headed back to her room.

…………

Later that evening, Raven was utilizing the quiet of the Tower to meditate in her room. She was interrupted, however, by a single sharp knock on her door. She stormed over and opened it, fully expecting to yell at Beast Boy. But there was no one there.

Her angry expression melted into one of confused surprise when she noticed the heart-shaped paper lying in front of her door. She gently picked it up, lightly running her fingers over it. It was still a little wet from glue, and some of the glitter rubbed off on her fingers, but it had her name on it.

Her expression softened to something she rarely felt. From the corner of her eye, she caught half a face watching her from around the corner. Then it disappeared with a delighted laugh.

Raven bit her lip to stop the smile, fingering the valentine. No, perhaps Valentine's Day was not so bad, after all…

The End. I leave you to fill in the rest of the blanks. Meh…I don't think I quite got it across right. It was so much better in my head. I don't think I gave myself enough time to properly cultivate it before I wrote it, but meh, whatever. Only a few people read this anyway. Review to prove me wrong.

I promise the next chapter will be better. I just don't write romance well at all. Expect Labor Day next, unless some other holiday bites me before then.


	4. Labor Day

Hello, and welcome back to War of the Holidays

Hello, and welcome back to War of the Holidays. Sorry for the long delay in updates. Teen Titans fiction doesn't really hold any interest for me any more, so this is likely to be the last chapter unless I can think of a holiday that interests me enough to write it. (Sorry, everyone who suggested a holiday, but I don't think those are it.)

So, without further delay, enjoy this probably-last installment of War of the Holidays. Sorry the ending is rushed. I began this a long time ago and had to force myself to finish it a few days ago. That said, enjoy anyway!

**Chapter 4**

**Labor Day**

The sun was bright and warm, illuminating the sparse fluffy-white clouds. A light breeze played along the shore. All in all, it was perfect weather for a day at the beach.

But a silent danger lurked in the water.

Robin and Starfire were playing water volleyball waist-deep in the gentle ocean, too deep into their game to pay any heed to the shadow rapidly approaching them. The dark spot under the water got closer and closer, until it was right behind Robin. Suddenly, it jumped out of the water and gave a loud roar, exposing its rows of hundreds of razor-sharp teeth.

Star screamed, and Robin quickly swung around to see. He immediately relaxed. "Nice try, Beast Boy."

The green shark looked rather disappointed before it morphed back into a human shape. "Man, you guys are just no fun," he complained, wading back to shore.

"Or maybe it's just you," Raven commented dryly. "And that's a good way to get yourself blasted." She gestured to Starfire, whose eyes had been glowing in preparation to defend her beloved. Raven levitated over the sand, a book floating in front of her, her cloak drawn up over her legs and face to block out most of the sun.

"You're not one to talk, Ms.—Ms….Reads-At-The-Beach!" Beast Boy retorted. "And aren't you hot?" He himself was wearing only baggy orange swim trunks. Robin was dressed similarly, with the addition of a sleeveless T-shirt, and Starfire had donned her brand new yellow bikini she had bought just for this occasion.

"No," Raven replied in a low tone, returning to her book. She was just getting to the good part…

"Hey, where's Cyborg?" Beast Boy asked.

Raven's eye twitched. "While you were out playing Jaws, he said he was going to go parasailing."

Just then, they all heard a loud "WAAA-HOOO!" and looked up to see their metal friend waving animatedly at them from the sky, dangling from a red and yellow parachute.

"Dude!" Beast Boy cried, waving his arms excitedly. "I SO wanna try that!"

Raven felt like smacking her forehead. Or better yet, smacking Beast Boy. "Have you forgotten you can _fly_?" she asked him.

"Yeah, but that's different!" he argued. "When I'm flying myself, I have to do all the work! I want to see what it feels like to be in the sky without having to do it myself!"

He suddenly shot up into the air, courtesy of a streak of black energy. Raven smirked. "You're welcome." She returned to her book as he landed with a loud splash far out in the water.

It was only a few minutes before Raven was again distracted, this time by the sun. She looked up as it beat down on her. It was awfully bright and hot…And the water looked to be more and more tempting with each passing minute. Robin and Starfire certainly seemed to be having fun. Raven resisted, returning to her book and keeping her hood up and cloak covering her to prevent burning. She still didn't like the beach.

It was just so hot, and the water was salty and stung her eyes, and if she weren't floating she knew the sand would get in some very uncomfortable places: namely, everywhere. She always left the beach feeling nasty. And if she didn't keep her cloak around her, she knew her pale skin would burn easily. All in all, the beach was a very unpleasant place for her. She barely knew why she went along with her friends.

But at last the day drew to a close, and the team prepared to leaves as the sun began setting. Raven still didn't bother to lower her hood, as the sun continued to cast a glare in her eyes; and they were still in public, anyway. The ride home was no more quiet for the team's exhaustion: the day had been delightfully free of crime-fighting and full of play, contributing to the merry mood.

Raven headed for the showers immediately upon arrival at the Tower. Only then did she remove her cloak, hanging it on a hook on the back of the bathroom door. Her eyes caught her reflection in the mirror as she turned, and her mouth dropped open in horror.

The bottom half of her face was disturbingly pink, while the top half remained ghostly pale. The line dividing the two halves was perfectly even and in the shape of a V—or worse, a heart. The exact silhouette of her hood.

Raven barely swallowed her scream before it tore out of her throat. She didn't even want to think about how she would keep this hidden from her teammates.

oOoOoOo

End! Poor Raven. I can identify with her. Though I've never gotten a weird face tan…I do hate the beach.

Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. I'm very glad you liked this little collection of holidays at Titans Tower.


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